Most movies depict cavalry's unsheathing of swords before a cavlary charge, far before their swords can ever be used. Is this authentic?

The Young Winston (1972) exemplifies the above, but bizarrely. It depicts the young Winston Churchill unsheathing his sword before his charge, then charging, but once he approaches the enemy, Churchill then replaces his sword, and instead produces his Mauser C96 pistol (at the 1 minute 17 seconds juncture of this clip), with which he fights the enemy.